Star Wars Battlefront (2015) – Review

The long anticipated Star Wars Battlefront has finally launched. After 9 million people joined to play in the free beta we have the full game in all of it’s glory. I was very excited for this game as Jake and I played it back at the Game Stop Expo in September. There was a lot of things that EA and Dice studios have done right with this game but with the good always comes the bad….

The characters available in this new Star Wars game range from Darth Vader and all of his cronies to Luke Skywalker and his team of rebel scum. Some of these famous characters are; Han Solo, (who by the way fires his blaster like a blind storm trooper and requires you to push down the trigger button for every time you want to fire, no rapid fire here) Rebel Troops, Storm Troopers, Scout Troopers and of course Boba Fett. Each of these characters has their own unique style of taking down the enemy with upgrades such as air strikes, personal shields, rapid fire weapons, turrets and grenades. These upgrades can advance further in fire power the more points that are obtained through your courageous fights on the battlefront.

While there is no campaign mode in this Star Wars game they do have missions that can be played by a solo player. These are the survival missions. These missions include a trip to the Hoth system to battle out the empire to gain control over your base. The game launches pods which you are required to take over and then defend. At times you are faced to defend these with a single blaster against an At-St, which can prove to be a bit difficult. It is wise to save your upgrades to battle it out with these bad boys and use your base as cover and concealment.

MULTIPLAYER

Local co-op mode only exists in the console versions of the game so if you have another buddy wanting to kick back and play this game you better have one of the current generation consoles available. I have to say as a PC gamer this was one of the biggest let downs. I enjoy the console co-op mode especially in the survival mode where that second set of guns comes in handy. As you select different maps on this game you are able to join online gamers ranging from 12-60 people. Your mileage may vary on play-ability of these modes based on your internet connection.

GRAPHICS

The graphics are smooth with faces and lips beautifully in sync. I loved seeing the Star Wars universe in beautiful 4K running smoothly. I do feel that it could use a boost in graphics with small things, such as foot prints in the sand or snow.

SOUND

As expected, the familiar sounds of the Star War Universe returns with sounds of blasters, AT-ATs walking around and AT-STs blasting you. While hunting your enemies it is obvious that they are coming with sounds like “he is over here.”

FINAL THOUGHTS

My anticipation and excitement for this particular title was through the roof. I have enjoyed revisiting the Star Wars Universe through another publisher’s perspective. I have enjoyed the different missions on Hoth, Endor and Tatooine. I loved playing the survival modes and blowing away a bunch of Storm Troopers. That being said I was very disappointed in the in the mechanics of flying the X-Wing through Beggers Canyon. The controls were difficult and the vehicles have been, overall, hard to control. I found that Han Solo’s use of a blaster was about as accurate as a Storm Trooper. I was impressed with the initial graphics of the game but that slowly dies out as the game goes on and doesn’t give it much replay value. The only thing that offers constant change is the online multi-player modes which consists of different maps. After you play these maps a few times it does get repetitive and frustrating.